Welcome to Deadly Drafts

Thank you for being here. Here's my Weakest Link introduction: Hi, I'm Jack, a writer based in Surrey. I've just written my first novel called Til Death Do Us Part, and I'm in the process of self-publishing it.

Til Death Do Us Part Book and eBook Cover

I wanted my first blog post to be an introduction of myself and how I started. For me, I’ve always loved telling stories, in one form or another. It started as a youngster, writing short picture books (the type with arms coming out of people's heads). But I loved it. My love for storytelling and world-building grew with me. Short stories became scripts, scripts turned into short films (which, for the good of humanity, I hope will never see the light of day), and somehow in between all of that, I ended up here.

Being completely truthful, I never thought I could write. There are many days when I still don't! I would often have scenarios buzzing around in my head, usually whilst listening to edit audios as the scenes played out in my mind. Storylines would form, and characters would unravel, but I never thought I would actually be able to construct any of it, in a way that would make any sense to anyone else! Having a story in your mind and being able to articulate it are two very different things. And of course, I'm by no means a perfect writer. Far from it! My grammar isn't always brilliant, and my spelling also leaves a lot to be desired (it took me 6 edits before it was pointed out to me that 'spag bol' was not in fact 'spag bowl').

But despite all of that, in May 2025, after getting back into reading, I had an idea. I sat on it for a couple of weeks, convincing myself that I couldn't do it. I would never be able to write a book, and even if I could, I was sure it would be absolutely rubbish! I kept putting it off, but the more I tried to bury it, the stronger the idea became. Suddenly, plot twists were forming in my mind, characters were coming alive, and I decided, why not give it a go? So, that's what I did.

Where I'm At?

I sit here now, on the 16th December, with a finished manuscript following a long process: 6 months of writing, 15 drafts, 2 beta readers, 1 book cover artist, 1 copyeditor, 35 queries, 35 rejections, and a partridge in a pear tree.

I realised the likelihood of my book ever being traditionally published was slim, and I was okay with that. Recently, I had settled on the idea that the book would never be published or read by anyone other than my two beta readers. The idea of self-publishing also sounded impossible; I was massively naive as to what self-publishing involved. I really envisioned myself mass-printing copies and sending them off to people individually. I did some research and realised that self-publishing doesn't need a huge amount of money pumped into it.

So, I decided again - why not? Why not self-publish it? Why not give it a go? Fifteen per cent of aspiring authors start writing their book. Out of that, 3% of people will complete their manuscript, and 0.6% of those will end up with a published book at the end of it. I have absolutely loved this journey and have found the process to be a lot of fun. So what if no one reads it, or this post! I'm not expecting a million copies sold and a place on the New York Times bestseller list. The idea of seeing my book printed and an eBook version on my Kindle feels so surreal. That's why I want to do this. And I love the idea of having a space where I can look back at all of this and see where it all started. And that's why I thought this blog would be the perfect place to capture all of that.

What Next?

As I'm writing this, my book cover has been created, my manuscript is going through a copy-edit in January, and then I'll be looking to find some ARC readers for my first novel. I'm hoping I'll have everything ready by May/June 2026 to self-publish (fingers crossed).

If you'd like to follow this journey, feel free to check back on this blog for updates. You can also Subscribe to my mailing list if you fancy keeping up with how this goes.

Thank you!